


The Prologue In Thy'Mur

by Relyh



Series: Tales Of Verthi [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 02:17:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2331527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relyh/pseuds/Relyh





	The Prologue In Thy'Mur

Autumn 816  
Tyh'Mur, Eskalar

     Kiden wrapped his arms tightly around himself as he huddled next to the small kindling in the fireplace. It was an unusually cold night for Tyh'Mur during this time of the year. The thin blanket cloaking his shoulders did little in the way to keep him warm. The front room that had been furnished when they first moved from Dyfei was now almost barren. Kiden sat quietly next to the dying embers, listening to the crackling of the flame and the raspy snoring of his father who had passed out sitting at a table in the corner of the room, the scent of cheap alcohol enveloping him. 

     Things had changed dramatically in the past year for both Kiden and his family. They had moved from the bustling Enarian capital, Dyfei, to a small tattered town deep in the war plagued country of Eskalar. His dad no longer seemed happy either. Shortly after arriving in Tyh'Mur he took up drinking almost religiously and didn't come home most nights at all. He never smiled. Unlike in Dyfei, Kiden too had trouble adapting to the new town. His white hair that fell just below his ears stuck out vividly unlike before. Here, where racial integration was practically taboo, he was considered an outcast and shunned by his peers. As a result he spent most of his days at his father's stall, watching customers and travelling merchants make their rounds. The only thing that never seemed to change despite the adversity they faced was his mother. She was always beaming with happiness and never seemed to let anything upset her. Every evening when Kiden would arrive home and on the few where his father would, she was always waiting, her smile lighting up the room around her. How she maintained her composure was a mystery to the young boy.

     A heavy knocking at the door broke Kiden's moment of recollection. Sluggishly his father stumbled from his chair in a groggy stupor. He was a rather large man and his haphazard stride made a heavy noise as he traversed his way across the room. Kiden watched as his father lazily opened the door. Two men appeared in the doorway. One was a slender man with a snark look on his face, the other stood taller than his father and rested a large cleaver over his shoulder. The shorter man, noticing Kiden, motioned his father out the door. He followed, pulling the door behind him. The conversation outside seeped through the walls in a muffled, indiscernible mumble. Kiden strained to try and hear what they were talking about but could only make out portions here and there.

     It wasn't long until Kiden realized the men had come to collect money from his father. Before they came to Tyh'Mur his father had been an established alchemic merchant in the capital, and as a result they had always lived a lavish lifestyle. However, when it became known to his customers that most of the goods were imported illegally to avoid taxation, the business quickly plummeted and their lifestyle was jeopardized. His father managed to keep them afloat by conducting business with shady characters for a while, but eventually something happened and they were forced to flee the country. Tyh'Mur should have been a fresh start for them all, but the lawlessness of the town quickly set in on his father. It wasn't long before he was associating with street gangs and illegal dealers. 

     Kiden assumed it had finally come back to bite them again. He imagined they would have to leave this town as well to escape whoever his father was doing business with. However, in the muffled conversation he caught onto a phrase that chilled him to the core, "or we'll have to make sure you pay us." He was still young, but even Kiden knew those words carried a heavy weight to them and would only spell trouble in the near future. He felt his hands trembling against himself as he pulled the blanket closer around him. He didn't want to have to go through everything that had happened in Dyfei again.

     The chatter outside of the house came to a sudden halt and a few minutes later his father came stumbling back in through the door. Hand marks were easily visible on his neck and the right side of his face was swollen. It was almost like an unwelcome flashback to Kiden. He didn't understand why his father choose to associate with people who would hurt him. His father didn't say a word despite everything though. He simply made his way across the room and laid his head back to rest where it had been previously.

     The silence that followed was almost deafening to the young boy as he was left to his own to decipher the situation that had transpired. It wasn't long however until his mother emerged from the back room and instructed him to head to his bedroom for the evening. Kiden gladly followed her instructions and made haste to get to his room and leave everything behind him until his father figured everything out for them. His bedroom was almost as barren as the front room of the house. Save for his bed and a small, crooked bookshelf with a small number of toys on it, you'd barely even know it was a bedroom let alone a child's room.

     As Kiden tucked himself deep beneath the safety of the blankets, his mother made her way into the room and sat at the foot of his bed. She was smiling as vividly as always. It was as if she was clueless as to everything going on around her, but Kiden knew otherwise. He knew she just loved his father and him and tried to stay strong for them. She was like a buffer to him during the storm. Briefly he wondered if that is what it meant to be a mother. If that was a mother though, what was a father? Discomfort quickly consumed him as his thoughts grew tangled together so he immediately dismissed the thought and rolled over in the sheets to get comfortable. As he did so, he could hear his mother humming a soft melody to lull him off to sleep. It was a comforting and familiar sound, one he had heard every night for as long as he could remember. He could feel his eyelids growing heavier and a faint whisper that seemed to come from some far off land, "good night, Kiden. I love you." A gentle smile crossed his lips as he faded to sleep.

     A cold draft sneaking into the room soon woke Kiden from his gentle slumber. His eyes were heavy and his throat was dry. Groggily, Kiden pushed the blankets off to his side and sat up on the edge of his bed. It wasn't common for drafts to reach his room, but exhaustion and thirst outweighed his curiosity. Slowly he lifted himself up and headed into the short hall outside of his room, dragging his feet behind him. He passed by the front room and noticed the embers of the fire were all but burnt out by now and his dad hadn't moved from his table yet. He probably wouldn't until morning. As he turned from the front room to continue on his venture he heard footsteps coming from his parent's bedroom. He assumed his mom was still up and figured it would be favorable for him on his quest for water.

     Rounding the corner into his parent's room, Kiden noticed a strange cloaked figure standing in the middle of the room. Confused, Kiden asked softly, "mom?" The strange figure quickly snapped around, shocked. There was a short dagger in their hand. The moonlight pouring through the window flickered across the blade as the person spun around. Startled, Kiden stepped back to escape the figure. As he looked around the room he noticed a thick pool gathered on the floor. The light glistened off of it in an ominous red hue. The person stepped towards Kiden and he noticed the same red dripping from the blade. "Dad!," shouted Kiden at the top of his lungs as tears raced from his eyes. As quickly as Kiden had shouted, the figure made it's retreat from an open window by the bed side and slipped into the shadows of the night.

     It wasn't long before his father came staggering into the room. As he did he stood motionless at the door, eyes fixated on the bed. Kiden's knees gave way as he collapsed to the floor, sobbing and wailing. His hands and body trembled before the scene that had laid itself out before him. The sheets of his parent's bed were stained with a deep crimson and his mother laid there as if still peacefully sleeping. Slowly, her blood trickled from her body and onto the cold, wooden floor below. Despite everything happening his father still stood motionless, his eyes glazed and lifeless.

     Through a cracking voice Kiden beckoned his father, "Why are you just standing there? Save mom! Save her! Why aren't you doing anything? Why aren't you upset? Mom is dying! Save her! Please!" His cries seemed as if they had fallen upon deaf ears as his father remained firm like a statue. He showed no sign of emotion as he stared blankly at the corpse that had only moments ago been his wife. Kiden sobbed uncontrollably through his tears, half gasping just to breathe as his mother's cold eyes stared through him.

     Slowly Kiden's father turned and began to walk back to the front room, "Go back to bed, Kiden," he instructed plainly. Dazed and confused, Kiden knew he couldn't go back to sleep. His mother was dead and still bleeding all over the place. How could his father want him to just go back to sleep? How was he so unaffected by this? Too many thoughts rushed through his head as he quivered on the floor, huddled in the fetal position like a newborn child. In a single night his entire world had been shattered and nothing seemed to make sense anymore. His father seemed distant and the house felt forlorn. As he cried to himself on the floor he couldn't help but wonder what he had done to deserve this.


End file.
